Regional BOCES reports enrollment growth at RISE Center; plans modest expansion tied to new CTE space

Champlain Valley Educational Services officials told the Beekmantown Central School District Board of Education on June 10 that enrollment at their RISE Center for Success has grown sharply and that the program will expand capacity when new career-and-technical-education space becomes available in 2026.

The presentation, given by the CVES district superintendent and Dr. Michael Slattery, executive director of special education, summarized programs for students with moderate-to-severe disabilities, current campus locations, staffing and outcome metrics that CVES says show increasing returns to regional districts.

"We are the special education division of Champlain Valley Educational Services," Dr. Slattery said. "We serve as a premier provider of educational services for students with moderate to severe disabilities." He described classroom ratios, program types (academic behavioral, life skills, autism-focused classrooms and intensive therapeutic supports), on-campus work-experience labs and satellite placements in component districts and at SUNY Plattsburgh.

CVES materials provided to the board show the RISE Center operates at six locations across Clinton and Essex counties and that the Plattsburgh campus alone hosts more than 20 classrooms. Slattery said CVES employs “over 225 highly specialized staff” and has more than 60 partnerships that support programming and transitions to adult services. He also said the region-wide RISE enrollment has increased roughly 51 percent over the last three years.

Board members asked about current capacity and utilization. When asked for a ballpark number, Slattery estimated capacity "probably around 235–240" students if all classrooms were full, and said current utilization is "in the high nineties" percent, with vacancies concentrated by campus, program and age range. He cautioned that enrollment fluctuates during the year.

On expansion, Slattery and CVES officials said space is the limiting factor. CVES plans to use classrooms that will be freed by a new CTE center scheduled to open in fall 2026; Slattery estimated that could free as many as 10 classrooms on the Plattsburgh campus for RISE programming but said staffing those rooms would be a separate constraint. "We're not going to be able to staff 10 classrooms to a level that we would like," he said, noting growth plans will depend on district referrals and available staff.

The presentation also reviewed outcome metrics CVES tracks: last year 44 percent of the RISE cohort left with a Regents or local diploma, 63 percent entered employment immediately on graduation and 31 percent entered adult services. Slattery highlighted internal measures of student independence: CVES reported 35 percent of the prior cohort moved to less restrictive settings and 58 percent reduced reliance on one-to-one aides after class-ratio increases.

Superintendent Dustin Relation and board members discussed options for local districts to host BOCES classrooms if space exists. CVES said it has leased classrooms in component districts when available and provides the full program staffing and ancillary services under a lease arrangement.

The CVES superintendent also summarized other regional BOCES services in the packet, including a health-insurance consortium that CVES manages; he said that consortium handles about $125 million in annual premiums and covers roughly 4,600 policies and more than 10,000 lives across member districts.

Board members did not take formal action on the presentation. CVES officials left materials and invited follow-up questions from district administrators about referrals, space partnerships and staffing. The board requested CVES return for questions as districts consider capacity and program placement for the coming school year.